Improvement in shoe-fasteners



plication.

, matted rmer @sind dtyiirr..

J'ULIUS'E. O-TTO., OF ELMORE, OHIO.

Letters Patent No. 105,482, datcd'July 19,' 1870.

A Beit known that I, JULIUS E. Orfro, of Elmore, 1n the county of Ottawaand State of Ohio, have invented certainnew and useful Improvements inLace- Hooks, of which the following is a specification.

Description of Drawing Figure 1 is a view of the lace in its practicalap- Figure 2, a viewY of the hook detached, v Figure holder.

Likeletters of reference refer to like parts in the different views.

Natta/rc and Object of' the Invention.. i

Generliescriplt'on.

` Fig. 1 represents theside or section of a shoe, gaiter, or boot,.whichmay be made separately and then attached to .theboot, or the sidethereof may be formed in like manner at the time of its manufacb ture. y

In the section A `is cut ,an oblong opening, A', the sides of'which aredrawn @together in the 4middle around the ankle, as' indicated, leavingthe upper and lower part of the leg entire, without auopen side, as inthe 4ordinary sidelaced gaiter.

The upper part of the leg is made sufficiently large to admit the'4foot,'and, at the point where the foot turns to' enter the foot of theboot, the opening-A will allow the leg to be so expanded as to admitaneasy entrance of the foot'toits placein the lower part of the shoe or.boot,'which is provided with a "tongue, in theusual way, to cover anyopening in the lacing. i

If preferred, the opening A may be of the usual form of that of anordinary gaiter, to which the lacing may be applied as follows:

B is a series of hooks.

A detached view of one such hookis shown in g.

g 2, in `which it will he seen `that' one end thereof is provided with across-bar, O.

` Said bar is offsetfrom the back of the hook equal to about the widthof the bow of the same, 'the purpose'of which will presently be shown.

'lhe'above-described hook is attached to thc boot or other article forlacing by inserting the bar in a 3, a detached transverse section of thehole, a, so that the backot' the hook shall be out ward, as shown iniig. 1. l

The .hook is prevented from becoming detached by the strip of leather D,under which the bar islsecured by sewing `said. strip to the boot.This,'however, is not necessary, unless the material is of athin character.

Theusualmanuer of lacing boots and shoes is by a double string threadedin eyelet-holes.

The objection to this method of lacing is, that it takes much time tothread the strings in the holes for lacing, and which have to bewithdrawn from them for the purposeof .unlacing Also, in consequence ofthe strain exerted upon the eyelets, they soon come out, 'therebycausing the shoe to look unsightly and theholes liable to break out.

To avoid these objections, I use the hooks above described, to thelowerend of which one end of the shoe-string E is tied, either by a ring ordirectly to the hook. l

A single string only is used, lwhich is then slipped into the hooksalternately from side to side of the opening, asshown. i'

This being done, the slack of the string is then taken up by drawingupon the string, thereby closing up the opening of the shoe, as shown intig. 1.

4By this means much Vless time is spent in lacing the shoe, as onestring only is used, which' is more quickly caught under the hooks, thanis required iu the ordinary way, viz.,vby the use of. two strings,threaded in eyelet-holes.

VBy giving "to the crossbar the offset referred to,

the hook receives more freedom to move, so 'that the string can, bemorereadily caught ou them, as

thelpoint of the hook is not pressed close down upon the leather, whichit would be were it not for the olii set.

The string, when laced up,'is secured thus by the fastener, whichconsists of a funnel-shaped shell, F,"ig.`1, a detached view of which isshown in iig. 3.

In said shell is fit-ted and pivotcd a disk, G, so that it will vibrateon its axial diameter.

The string is'passed through the shell from the smaller end, andbetweenthe edge of the disk and ide of the shell, as shown in the transversesection,

alt will be obvious that the string can be pulledinwardly, as the edgeof the disk `will move forward away from the side of the shell, butcannot be pulled outwardly, as the string will draw the edge of the diskdown against the side of the shell, thereby .clamping the string andpreventing it from being pulled out.

By this device only Aone string is secured from being unlaeed from thehooks, which will, therefore, remain The conical shell F and vibratingdisk G, arranged,

tight while the shoe is laced up.

in relation to the lacing, substantially as and for the This kind oflacing described may be used on boots purpose set forth, with a, sideopening of the usual kind7 or that of a JULIUS OTTO. rectangulaiopening,as before mentioned.

Witnesses: Claw" J. H. BURRIDGE, What I claim as my improvement, anddesire to D. L. HUMPHEY. secure by Letters Patent, is-

